Vampire’s Kiss Cocktail

A spooky version of a popular Spanish cocktail, Kalimotxo, that mixes wine and cola.

Vampire’s Kiss Cocktail

If you have kids, come Halloween, you’ll be surrounded by all sorts of plastic kitsch and tempted by treats that are so sweet they should be considered poisonous. So enter our Vampire’s Kiss Cocktail. Our Halloween adult drink with just enough red wine to get you through the night is still appropriately decorated to let you partake in the festivities, too.

How to Make the Base Drink – a Kalimotxo

The base of the drink is a Kalimotxo, a popular Basque cocktail of equal parts cola and cheap red wine. No need to go high end at the wine store.

Any house wine or wine under $8 will do. We used a Yellowtail Pinot Noir because we wanted a darker finish to compliment the decorations.

And those decorations are just a little of gold lustre dust and gold leaf. You can easily get both on Amazon fairly cheaply. The lustre dust is a popular baking decoration, which you can also find at Michaels.

The dry ice is usually available for sale at most local supermarkets but call ahead to make sure. Just a note about the dry ice: do not buy it ahead of time to store in your freezer. It will evaporate and you’ll literally find yourself holding an empty bag.

Vampire's Kiss Halloween Cocktail

A spooky version of a popular Spanish cocktail, Kalimotxo - Vampire's Kiss Cocktail

Course Drinks

Prep Time5minutes

Total Time5minutes

Servings4

Calories52kcal

Ingredients

.5cupred winecheap is fine

.5cupcolachilled

sprinklegold lustre dust

2cubesdry ice

gold leafoptional

Instructions

In a serving glass, mix together the red wine and cola.

Using a small fork or spoon, scoop just a bit of the lustre dust and mix into the drink. Don't use your fingers because the dust will stick.

Right before serving drop in the dry ice.

OPTIONAL - you can decorate the glass with strips of gold leaf. Use a thin makeup brush to apply to a dry clean glass. You can also shred little bits of gold leaf into the drink. Pure gold leaf is ok for consumption. But don't go crazy with it.

This is so cool! I’d never have thought of mixing cola with wine, although I used to drink beer mixed with cola when I was in Germany. I’ve never heard of sprinkle gold lustre dust. What exactly is it?

It’s dry ice and it evaporates very, very quickly. By the time you add the ice to all servings and set them on the table, you’ll have a few minutes of the “pouring” effect. Then you’ll be a left with a little fog hovering the cocktail. You just need a cube of dry ice per glass, about the size of a standard sugar cube.

Hey Katherine! This looks stunning AND spooky. Could one possibly serve just red wine with the luster dust or, maybe get creative with other deep red cocktails? Can we do a self-serving bowl, you think? Your thoughts?

Absolutely. We choose that specific cocktail because we like exploring cool ethnic recipes and the soda does make the drink darker. But if you use a Merlot or Pinot Noir only, you’ll get the same effect. As for other cocktails, a Sangria would work nice, but also a Cranberry Gimlet or Negroni, too. Alternatively, you can just add blackberry juice to anything for that bloody effect.

And the serving bowl idea is fantastic, especially if you want to gather everyone and make it a show. The dry ice will evaporate quickly, so after 10 minutes, you’ll be left with a bowl of glimmering wine. I would use a clear bowl and add a row of tea candles in the back to enhance the effect. Send us pics so we can see how it turns out!

About Us

Those three cherubs above are our inspiration for Wanderspice. We want to expose our kids to the world through food and culture, but while they're young, we're doing it from home. With their Dad's chef skills and my travel experience, we've begun a culinary and cultural exploration of the world's most fascinating regions. Dedicating one month to each region we'll cook, eat, drink, craft and immerse ourselves in the beauty of a new region. Join us.